A Second Look--October 9, 2013

The unusually warm weather of last week has given way to beautiful fall weather. There's a definite nip in the morning air that turns into warm, sunny afternoons. However, we haven't had a frost yet. Our first mums bloomed this week and a few of the summer flowers are hanging on. The squirrels continue to be active, and there have been more birds at the feeder this week. Our neighbor put up two new feeders, so the birds have a lot of choices these days including all of the wild berries that are ripening. More leaves are turning but we're definitely not at our peak yet. Here are a few things I saw this week during a Second Look.

Daisy mums

We are getting a fair amount of oak leaves on the ground from a big tree we have in the front yard. They go pretty much straight from green to brown.

Marigold

Balloon flower

These female and male cardinals come to the feeder at the same time but are rarely eating at the same time.

Pansy

I try to put critter treats outside the cats' favorite window so they can have a good show like they did with this squirrel eating popcorn.

An overall view of our upper backyard to see how the leaves are changing. In the left of the picture is a dog wood tree that has mostly red leaves now.  In the middle is a maple tree that is starting to change. I always like to watch how it loses its leaves from the top down. In the right of the picture is another maple tree that has very little change.